Securing the Future for a Major Academic Cardiovascular Program: Hardwiring a Referral Network and Preparing for a Transition to Value-Based Reimbursement.

The University of Kentucky College of Medicine and Albert B. Chandler Hospital opened over 50 years ago to serve Kentucky. After initial growth and expansion, both were struggling clinically, academically, and financially in the early 2000s. Difficulties were apparent in cardiovascular (CV) services, which captured only 11% of the regional patients hospitalized for cardiac disease. Over the next 15 years, CV services dynamically transformed to become the leading provider with a large network of regional partners, garnering 42% of market share. This article describes strategic plans and initiatives leading to clinical and academic growth. Future value-based initiatives are also described.

Carotid angioplasty with stenting versus endarterectomy: 10-year randomized trial in a community hospital.

OBJECTIVES: This single-center, randomized, clinical trial was designed to determine the 10-year comparative efficacy and durability of carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) versus carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in preventing ipsilateral ischemic stroke in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with high-grade carotid artery stenosis. BACKGROUND: Modern clinical trials with short-term follow-up indicate CAS and CEA are equivalent in reducing the risk for ipsilateral ischemic stroke secondary to carotid stenosis. A paucity of data exists regarding long-term outcomes. METHODS: Patients of all surgical risks with symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid stenosis (>70%) were randomly selected for CEA or CAS and followed a minimum of 10 years. RESULTS: Long-term follow-up was achieved in 173 patients (91%). Eighty-seven (50.2%) died within this period, most commonly of nonvascular causes. No difference in the risk of stroke ipsilateral to the treated artery was noted among treatment groups (p > 0.05). Restenosis determined by sequential ultrasound was assessed only in the CAS group (3.3%) and remained asymptomatic. The combined risk of fatal or nonfatal heart attack over the 10-year period was highest in individuals with symptomatic versus asymptomatic stenosis (27.5% vs. 11.0%; hazard ratio [HR]: 2.32, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.298 to 4.146, p = 0.005) and was higher in all patients treated with CEA (HR: 2.27, 95% CI: 1.35 to 3.816, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term protection against ipsilateral stroke provided by CAS and CEA did not differ in this trial. The 10-year risk of fatal/nonfatal myocardial infarction was highest in all patients harboring symptomatic carotid stenosis at enrollment. The risk of fatal/nonfatal heart attack was significantly more prevalent in those symptomatic or asymptomatic patients randomized to CEA.

Thrombus predicts ischemic complications during percutaneous coronary intervention in saphenous vein grafts: results from TARGET (do Tirofiban and ReoPro give similar efficacy trial?).

BACKGROUND: Saphenous vein graft (SVG) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) carries a high risk of ischemic complications. However, there are scant recent data to identify which SVG lesions carry particularly high risk in recent years. We studied demographic and angiographic factors associated with ischemic complications after SVG PCI without distal protection in the TARGET (do tirofiban and reopro give similar efficacy trial?) study. METHODS: TARGET was a multicenter double-dummy, double-blinded study randomizing 4,809 PCI patients to tirofiban or abciximab. Of these, 254 patients underwent PCI involving an SVG lesion. The primary endpoint of this analysis was major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) at 30 days, including death, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), and urgent target vessel revascularization. RESULTS: No demographic characteristic was associated with 30-day MACE. Lesion length > 20 mm (odds ratio [OR] = 2.7, P = 0.03), thrombus (OR = 3.9, P = 0.003), eccentricity (P = 0.001), thrombolysis in myocardial infarction flow < 3 post-procedure (OR = 5.6, P = 0.037), and >1 target lesion (OR = 2.5, P = 0.035) were univariate variables associated with 30-day MACE. Multivariate analysis associated only thrombus (OR = 3.8, P = 0.015) with 30-day MACE. No difference in outcomes was noted between patients receiving abciximab and tirofiban. SVG patients had lesser angiographic success (95.6% vs. 98%, P = 0.04) and increased 30-day Q-wave MI (2.5% vs. 0.9%, P = 0.039) compared with non-SVG patients, but a similar incidence of death (0% vs. 0.4%), non-Q-MI (5.9% vs. 4.5%), and target vessel revascularization (0.5% vs. 1%). CONCLUSION: In the era of routine stenting and GpIIb/IIIa inhibitors, thrombus is the angiographic characteristic most closely associated with adverse outcomes of SVG PCI.

Outcome of multivessel coronary intervention in the contemporary percutaneous revascularization era.

Clinical outcomes after multivessel versus single-vessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the era of stents, glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, and clopidogrel pretreatment have not been well studied. Thus, we compared outcomes from the Do Tirofiban and ReoPro Give Similar Efficacy Outcome Trial (TARGET) for patients who underwent multivessel versus single-vessel PCI and separately considered the effect of acute coronary syndromes on the results. Composite clinical outcomes (death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization) were evaluated at 30 days and 6 months and mortality at 1 year. Safety analysis included in-patient major and minor bleeding. Despite similar baseline characteristics, patients who underwent multivessel PCI (n = 775) had significantly higher 30-day and 6-month composite event rates than did those who were treated in a single coronary artery territory (n = 3,969). This association remained significant at 30 days (hazard ratio 1.57, 95% confidence interval 1.06 to 2.33, p = 0.025) after using propensity matching to minimize confounding factors. The higher event rate was primarily due to an increase in periprocedural myocardial infarction. However, there were no significant differences in propensity-matched ischemic outcomes at 6 months and 1 year or in bleeding. In addition, in a propensity-matched analysis that included 810 patients with acute coronary syndrome, multivessel stenting resulted in numerically more ischemic events than did single-vessel stenting, although this did not reach statistical significance (hazard ratio 1.32, 95% confidence interval 0.85 to 2.05, p = 0.221). In conclusion, multivessel PCI was more often associated with periprocedural myocardial infarction than single-vessel intervention, although this did not translate into higher 1-year mortality. A randomized trial comparing multivessel PCI with staged or surgical revascularization is warranted.

Mortality at 1 year for the direct comparison of tirofiban and abciximab during percutaneous coronary revascularization: do tirofiban and ReoPro give similar efficacy outcomes at trial 1-year follow-up.

AIMS: Compared with placebo, abciximab has been associated with mortality reduction at late follow-up. The TARGET trial was performed to test whether tirofiban and abciximab provide similar efficacy outcomes among patients undergoing non-emergent, stent-based percutaneous coronary intervention. We report here the 1-year mortality of the study population. METHODS AND RESULTS: In 18 countries at 149 hospitals, 4,809 patients undergoing elective or urgent stent implantation were randomly assigned a bolus and infusion of tirofiban or abciximab. Ischaemic events were assessed at 30 days and 6 months and mortality was assessed at 1 year. We previously reported that abciximab was superior to tirofiban considering the composite rate of death or myocardial infarction at 30 days among all patients and at 6 months among those with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). At 1-year follow-up death occurred in 46 (1.9%) patients who received tirofiban and 42 (1.7%) patients who received abciximab (hazard ratio 1.10, 95% CI 0.72-1.67; P=0.660). Mortality rates for patients with ACS were 2.3% with tirofiban vs. 2.2% with abciximab (hazard ratio 1.03, 95% CI 0.64-1.67; P=0.897) and those without ACS were 1.4 vs. 1.0% (hazard ratio 1.32, 95% CI 0.56-3.13; P=0.530). CONCLUSION: At 1 year, tirofiban provided a similar level of survival benefit compared with abciximab.

Carotid angioplasty and stenting versus carotid endarterectomy for treatment of asymptomatic carotid stenosis: a randomized trial in a community hospital.

OBJECTIVE: Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is effective in reducing the risk of stroke in individuals with more than 60% carotid stenosis. Carotid angioplasty and stenting (CAS) has been proffered as effective and used in treating individuals with asymptomatic carotid stenosis despite the absence of proven clinical equivalency. This randomized trial was designed to explore the hypothesis that CAS is equivalent to CEA for treating asymptomatic carotid stenosis. METHODS: A total of 85 individuals presenting with asymptomatic carotid stenosis of more than 80% were selected randomly for CAS or CEA and followed up for 48 months. RESULTS: Stenosis decreased to an average of 5% after CAS. The patency of the reconstructed artery remained satisfactory regardless of the technique, as determined by carotid ultrasonography. No major complications such as cerebral ischemia or death occurred. Procedural complications associated with CAS (n = 5) were hypotension and/or bradycardia; those concomitant with CEA (n = 3) were cervical nerve injury or complications related to general anesthesia (n = 4). Both procedures were well tolerated in the context of pain and discomfort. Hospital stay was similar in the two groups (mean, 1.1 versus 1.2 d). The occurrence of complications associated with CAS or CEA prolonged hospitalization by 3 days (mean, 4.0 versus 4.5 d). Return to full activity was achieved within 1 week by more than 85% of patients; all returned to their usual lifestyle by 2 weeks. Although hospital charges were slightly higher for CAS, costs were similar. CONCLUSION: CAS and CEA may be equally effective and safe in treating individuals with asymptomatic carotid stenosis.